People exceed the speed limit on highways, but usually not by a lot. If they exceed it by a lot, it is usually enforced, e.g. by speed cameras; but of course some people still sometimes get away with it, no enforcement of any law is perfect.
this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2025
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Do you think traffic speeds aren't enforced? Just because they can't do it effectively because they don't have the resources or man power doesn't mean they don't try.
I live in the south of France. I see cops cars using speed radars once a year. Once a fucking year. They do NOT enforce anything. If they did, half the population would be unemployed.
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On the highways here, the original speed limit of 55 was to save our nation's resources, not just "55 to stay alive" but also it was an efficient speed to maintain and still pretty fast.
Inside the city it works much better to make drivers feel unsafe going fast. Narrower lanes, speed bumps, roundabouts, etc.
In answer to your actual question - some laws are just old and haven't been unwound yet and others are used as pretext for profiling, police (or, more properly whoever is running them) like to be able to stop people for no reason but that can be seen as illegitimate, so they keep laws that everyone breaks, jaywalking, etc to have an excuse.
I don't think there is any one law everybody breaks really but also no person who has lived perfectly law abiding life.
Anecdotally, I’ve almost never get pulled over in traffic, but the one time I was pulled over, I was doing 76 in a 65 at 5 AM with no other cars on the road and otherwise driving completely fine.
I guess he was bored. Or an asshole. Or both.
Edit: Fixed my paradox
I was doing 76 in a 65
And you're proud of it. YTA as they say.
Both times I've ever been pulled over for speeding the road was empty except me and i was going the average speed people drive on them. 3 people doing 20 over, a cop can shrug and say i don't wanna pick one to ticket. A single car not only sticks out as speeding more easily, but there also isn't much of an excuse for the cop not to pull them over.
Counter intuitively, its easier to get away with speeding when the roads are busy because you blend in. The biggest things you want to avoid when speeding and busy is agressive behaviors and frequent passing. Make it seem more casual and you will blend in with the flow of traffic.
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Take jaywalking for example. Most people aren't going to be bothered by some woman crossing the street when no cars are around.
Is it worth a cops time who's within eyeshot to do anything about it? Waste of resources, she's not endangering anyone.
Same situation but cars are all over, some swerving to avoid or slam on their breaks because she blindly runs out. She gets hit or cars pile into each other.
Cops in eyeshot. Well the drivers certainly are not the ultimate cause of this accident.
That's my guess anyways.
Tools in the toolbox. You'll often hear about police saying they need more tools in the toolbox. What it means is they want to be able to enforce laws against somebody they don't like selectively.
If you enforce the speed limit religiously, especially around State capitals, the speed limits would rapidly change.
https://archive.org/details/threefeloniesday0000silv
If this topic interests you, I recommend reading three felonies a day, by Harvey silverglate
I don't think everyone always breaks the speed limit, but probably they do at some point during every journey. They knew this went they introduced the 20mph speed limit but they introduced it anyway because they thought it would reduce the average speed by a few mph.
Traffic speed? If you know where all the speed cameras are, you could dodge them and hope there are no other police checking you.
That's the whole fucking point. Speed traps are only there to decrease the number of people killed, and we still have idiots complaining about it.
Speed traps don't stop or prevent crime/accidents, they generate money. In fact, one could argue a police speed traps causes accidents when a group of cars in the front suddenly slam on their brakes.
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How do you expect constant enforcement? I'll go over the speed limit on the motorway when it's quiet and the lane is empty. Police generally don't care if you're doing 75 or 80 in a 70, as long as you're not driving like an ass. The most important thing is keeping pace with traffic.
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Counter question: do you think everyone is sensible?
Everyone always exceed the speed limit on highways
You're projecting yourself
Nah, I don't even have a license to drive.
Every time I'm in my parent's car, they drive the speed limit, then I see cars flying by. I'm like wtf.
I double check the spedometer, it points at just below 60, the sign says 60. How is everyone going so fast. They must be speeding.
Edit: And it's not just one or two cars, its almost every car on the highway.
This is in the USA, the Interstate-95 / PA-NJ Turnpike btw.
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